Benz on York – Ain’t No Mercedes

The first time I visited BoY was around a year ago, where my mum, her friend and myself came to this place on a wintry day and was served decently hearty winter food. It seemed like a good idea then, a year later, to visit it again with The Lady, all the more so due to a 50% Lunchalot discount.

Drawcards? Cheap prices, decent portions, and convenient location smack bang in the middle of the CBD within the reach of many.

You can’t fail to notice the cafe as you walk down York St because of its distinctly yellow walls. Well, you may miss it if you’re not looking – it is somewhat recessed into the wall of its host building, but you’re not likely to miss it if you’re looking for it.

Large signage and a warm temperature profile means it’s not hard to miss

An unusually rare touch for a cafe

May not be particularly important for most readers, but I find it interesting that the water comes with lemon. Most cafes (none that I can remember) do that, so that’s a pretty nice touch, even if it isn’t worth too much.

Unfortunately, this visit to BoY was so long ago I had forgotten the prices of the menu items. But they are reasonably priced, with most major items under $20. For a CBD cafe, this is acceptable.

Beef burger – $11 (info from another user)

For yours truly, a simple beef patty resting on a bed of leaf lettuce & pan-fried egg, enclosed in a sesame seed bun. While the portion was decent, the quality and flavour of the burger was somewhat lacking – the bun was rather flat and too bready for little flavour, though the egg did pick up some of this slack.

The beef itself was nothing special, and not particularly memorable – but for a meal to server its purpose of filling me up, it did succeed. Wouldn’t really eat again for enjoyment though. It’s just too…ordinary.

Fish burger

I forgot to take a picture of The Lady’s fish burger while it was still whole, but I think that the half-eaten version gives a good visual description.

The bread is the same type as the beef burger – like it was mass-acquired from a supermarket special. The fish patty was better, though it would not have stood out if it weren’t for the mayo. Mayo saves everything.

Soup of the Day – minestrone

The best dish of the day was definitely the soup of the day. It was a rainy day that day, and a bit chilly. This soup was the perfect remedy, and it was pretty good to boot. It’s a little watery, but you can use the bread to suck some of that up. The rest of it is pretty good – ample amounts of veggies and a bold flavour makes for a good conclusion.

There are better cafes in the CBD for sure, but if you happen to be right there and are hankering for a bite, Benz will fulfill its duty to you.

As usual, feel free to leave a comment or three 😀

Awesome: doesn’t break the bank, soup is pretty good depending on what it is

Not so Awesome: the burgers aren’t “made”, they’re built with essentially pre-bought ingredients; average tastes, not good value for money if you actually consider ingredient choices.

I'm Still Hungry - A Sydney Food Blog by Michael Shen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on the work at http://imstillhungry.net